Apple Says Cheap iPhones 'Will Never Be the Future'

Apple almost never addresses rumors about its products, so now that Apple SVP of marketing Phil Schiller has flatly denied this week's ongoingwhispers about the company's alleged plans to develop a potentially sub-$100 iPhone, the rumormongers must have gotten this one very wrong. "Despite the popularity of cheap smartphones, this will never be the future of Apple's products. In fact, although Apple’s market share of smartphones is just about 20%, we own the 75% of the profit," Schiller said to the Shanghai Evening News Wednesday, in what Apple tells The Next Web's Mathew Panzarino today was an official interview.

It's a curious case, since both Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal cited sources this week suggesting that such a device, built on cheap parts and seeking to corner Android's affordable cellphone market, was in the works for release by the end of 2013. Bloomberg even had someone citing a specific very low price for the low-budget phone. But rumors are rumors, and Apple is now on the record saying this one won't be happening, even if it makes total sense for the company's market share. But Apple doesn't care about that, as Schiller explained: Apple has profits, and profits matter.

Schiller's remarks might also have something to do with changing goals at Apple. The company has gotten seemingly less secretive about things since CEO Tim Cook took the helm. Perhaps Apple leadership feels the need to address the rumors getting the most play, or maybe it has to do with the earnings report coming out in a couple of weeks? Fake rumors can hurt the company's bottom line, after all.

We're also surprised at the rumormongers. They had won some of our respect after the latest iPhone hype cycle for getting every single part of the new phone correct, right down to the name. What happened, guys? To be fair, somedoubted the reliability of this latest sourcing. But for now it's back to total and complete skepticism for anything that comes out of that mill.